Squad news

THE WORST SCORING NUMBERS IN TWO DECADES

25 Mar 2011Deportivo is not only the worst scorer in la liga, but it’s also presenting its worst scoring numbers since the last promotion to Primera. The strikers and the midfielders are frozen, and the defenders had to come out to balance the things.

The arrivals of Pepe Sand and Xisco during the winter window brought hope to the fans as it was understood as a solution to cut with the endless scoring problems at Deportivo, but in the end nothing changed as the duo remains scoreless and as Lotina’s team continues to be the worst scorer at Primera División.

The Galicians have only scored 23 goals in 29 liga matches, even the last place at the table, Hércules CF, has scored more goals on the competition (25). Beyond that, the 23 goals in favour means the worst mark at the club at this stage of the season since the last promotion of the club to Primera División (season 1991/92), even in that returning campaign to the elite, in which Depor had to play a relegation playoff against Betis, the team had more goals at this point of the season (24).

Within the last twenty years the worst mark at the club for a complete liga campaign is the 32 goals scored during the season 2006/07, which means that Depor needs to score ten more goals in the remaining nine matchdays to surpass the mark; it sounds reasonable, but to remember that Deportivo already remained scoreless in 16 of the 29 matchdays disputed so far, including four of the last five matches in liga, so it won’t be so easy as it could be assumed.

Another fact to have in mind is the poor contribution of the strikers and midfielders to the number of goals. Depor’s attackers have only added 11 goals on the season: Adrian (5), Riki (3) and Lassad (3). Meanwhile, the midfielders have only added four goals to their tally: Guardado (2), Juan Rodriguez (1) and Pablo Álvarez (1).

The mark of the strikers is the second worst among the twenty clubs in la liga, only above the seven goals scored by the strikers of Sporting Gijón. But the mark of the midfielders is the worst on the competition though tied with the number of goals scored by the midfielders at Hércules CF.

Curiously, Depor’s defenders -and goalkeeper- have the best mark of goals in favour in the league with eight: Aranzubia (1), Aythami (2), Lopo (2), Colotto (2) and Laure (1). It’s even a better mark than the one of the top four positions at the standings: Real Madrid (7), Villarreal (5), Barcelona (4) and Valencia (4).

Finally, to mention that of the twenty-three goals scored by Depor on the season, only eight came in normal plays (35%), while the remaining sixteen goals were scored in or after throwing a corner-kick, free-kick or penalty, which clearly demonstrates the high dependency of Lotina’s team on set-pieces.